What the Puck: Another bleu-blanc-rouge brush off for Andrei Markov

Montreal Canadiens' Andrei Markov sits on the edge of the boards during practice at their training facility in Brossard on April 25, 2014.

Montreal Canadiens’ Andrei Markov, left, takes the torch from P.K. Subban during ceremony prior to the team’s home opener against the Boston Bruins in Montreal on Oct. 16, 2014.

I don’t believe you’ll ever see Andrei Markov in the Canadiens’ lineup.

Like any self-respecting Habs fan, I love Markov and what he’s done for the franchise. Along with Carey Price, he is a defining player of the 21st-century Montreal Canadiens and for most of the 16 seasons he played for the bleu-blanc-rouge, he was a monster on the blue line, defensively and offensively. Was there a better passer on the team during the last 20 years? To ask the question is to answer it.

But the time for the Habs to re-sign Markov was in summer 2017 , not this summer. He’s 40 and I don’t think there’s a place for him on this team and even if there was, general manager Marc Bergevin would never give it to him.

Bergevin manages with his emotions, and there is no love lost between him and Markov. The veteran Russian defenceman was back in town this week after two seasons in the KHL with Ak Bars Kazan and he was trying to make nice with his former boss during an interview with colleague Stu Cowan .

That has led to a week’s worth of speculation about whether Bergevin would also make nice and possibly offer him a one-year contract or, at least, a tryout at training camp. I’m here to say that isn’t happening. For once, I think Bergevin would be making the right decision, but for the wrong reasons.

There’s simply no place for Markov on this team. They have to build for the near-term future and they don’t need more old defencemen who have lost a step or two. They already have one of those guys — Shea Weber — and you might have noticed a number of speedy forwards just zipping by him last season. Weber still adds to the equation, but he adds a lot less than he used to and chew on this factoid: Montreal is on the hook for another seven seasons with Weber at an annual cap hit of almost US$7.9 million! What the something!

The left side of the Canadiens’ D has been a mess since Montreal and Markov parted company, but look at the three guys on the left for next season and you’ll realize that Markov is not in a position to replace Victor Mete, Ben Chiarot or even Brett Kulak.

But that’s not why Bergevin won’t sign him. He won’t offer a contract because Markov dissed the GM publicly and when Bergevin gets into a quarrel, it always ends in bitter fashion. Talk to P.K. Subban, Alex Galchenyuk, Alexander Radulov and Max Pacioretty in private and see what nice things they have to say about Bergevin. I’d guess they wouldn’t have many bon mots for their former boss.

Remember what happened in summer 2017? Bergevin was in negotiations with Markov and fellow Russian teammate Radulov. Except they weren’t really negotiations. Bergevin said he had the cash to sign one or the other and that it was “first come, first served” to get a deal. Who talks about star players like that? In the end, both of the Russians walked — Markov went to the KHL and Radu signed with the Dallas Stars.

It’s interesting to note that the Habs haven’t made the playoffs since those two left the organization. It’s even more interesting to note that the Habs’ power play sucked eggs last season and sure could’ve used a seasoned defenceman on the point who was known as one of the best at lasering a pass to a scorer in the slot on the PP. Habs management also left $8 million on the table in each of those two seasons. In other words, they had the dough to pay Markov.

In a December 2017 interview with Le Journal de Montréal’s Jonathan Bernier , Markov blasted Bergevin.

“As an athlete and as someone who spent 16 years with the team, I would’ve liked it if they’d shown me some respect,” said Markov. “That’s all I asked of the team. I’ll be honest with you. There were almost no talks with the Canadiens. I received two or three offers from them. They said ‘you sign or you don’t sign’. No one listened to me and no one wanted to listen to me.”

That’s how Bergevin treated one of the most significant players of the modern Habs era. He treated him with utter disrespect. Those were Markov’s words, but Bergevin has never countered with a detailed explanation of what happened.

So Markov is not coming back to play his 1,000th game with the Canadiens. There will be no Disney-like Hockey Night in Canada moment, like they dreamed up last year with Tomas Plekanec. The reality is that the GM should’ve signed him in 2017. Instead Bergevin put his money on another left-side defenceman and we all know how the Karl Alzner experiment worked out.